In the last post I highlighted how Roman Catholic writers have echoed the claims made by Evangelicals (see Part Three) that these prayers for animals — “Their Guileless Lives” and “Our Brothers the Animals” — are supposed to be found in the writings of St. Basil or in the Liturgy of St. Basil. This post will continue the thread by looking at how Eastern Orthodox, Episcopal, and Protestants and other Christian writers have also made similar claims.

As with the previous instalments this is a long post that painstakingly sets out the details for the benefit of serious readers and qualified researchers. The writers identified here are not intended to be the object of scathing criticism.

On page 241, Krueger remarks that “the best of theology has always perceived the inherent worth of animals.” He then provides excerpted quotations from various Christians to illustrate the point. Among these he includes (p 241):

St. Basil writes, ” O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, even our brothers, the animals, to whom Thou gavest the earth as their home in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to Thee in song, has been a groan of pain. May we realize that they live, not for us alone, but for themselves and for Thee, and that they love the sweetness of life.”

Krueger’s footnote (p 245) for this quotation reads:

Excerpted from The Liturgy of Saint Basil.

Two observations are worth making about Krueger’s quotation and his literary evidence.

The first is that in Krueger’s version of the prayer there are minor textual variations, which are marked above in red font. The most widely published version of the prayer reads “our brothers the animals” whereas Krueger’s version inexplicably adds both a new emphasis and new punctuation: “even our brothers, the animals.”

Again, there is a word subtitution. In Krueger’s version the word “pain” has replaced the word “travail” used in the other versions. As the prayer is published with variant readings, it is legitimate to ponder which is the “true” version. It seems that the more the prayer is published the more it seems to undergo editorial changes in books and blogs.

The other observation is that Krueger refers to the Liturgy but provides no bibliographical reference to a translation or original language version of it.

There is a personal webpage called “Orthodoxy and Animals”, where a professing member of an Eastern Orthodox church has assembled some prayers to encourage pet-owners. Both prayers, “Their Guileless Lives” and “Our Brothers the Animals”, are reproduced on the page “Prayer for the Animals”:

Attributed to St. Basil the Great are two beautiful prayers for Animals:The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof. O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals to whom Thou gavest the earth as their home in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to Thee in song has been a groan of travail. May we realize that they live not for us alone, but for themselves and for Thee and that they love the sweetness of life even as we, and serve Thee better in their place than we in ours.

For those, O Lord, the humble beasts, that bear with us the burden and heat of day, and offer their guileless lives for the well-being of mankind; and for the wild creatures, whom Thou hast made wise, strong, and beautiful, we supplicate for them Thy great tenderness of heart, for Thou hast promised to save both man and beast, and great is Thy loving kindness, O Master, Saviour of the world.

Notice that “well-being of mankind” is in the above text, which differs from “humankind” and from “their countries” in other versions. The webpage owner does give two references for these quotations:

Animals and Man: A State of Blessedness, by Joanne Stefanatos D.V.M., ’92, Light and Life Publishing Co.

I have not had access to the book by Joanne Stefanatos although it can be mentioned that she is an American veterinarian who practices holistic or complementary techniques of medicine in her vet clinic. Light & Life Publishing is a supplier of books to the Orthodox Community.

Reflection:

There is a curious point for general reflection for any communicant members of Eastern Orthodox churches who might be tempted to claim that St. Basil’s prayers are found in the Liturgy. As I have noted previously, The Liturgy of St. Basilis used on no more than ten occasions during the liturgical year. If these two prayers are indeed part of the Liturgy then on which holy day of the year are these prayers sung or chanted by the priest or deacon?

If they are not part of the liturgy, then there is a curious and inexplicable “disconnect” between the rich cycle of liturgical experiences that are celebrated in Eastern Orthodox services, and the claim by those who attend Orthodox churches that the prayers are in the liturgy. Put another way, when was the last time that anyone actually heard these prayers chanted in an Eastern Orthodox, or Coptic or Ethiopian church service?

Yordy is also a contributor to the book Diversity and Dominion: Dialogues in Ecology, Ethics and Theology, ed. Kyle S. van Houtan and Michael S. Northcott (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2010). In her chapter, “Biodiversity and the Kingdom of God” (page 180) she reproduces the prayer “Our Brothers the Animals”. Her source for the prayer is Jon Wynne-Tyson, The Extended Circle (see Part Two of this blog for my critical comments on Wynne-Tyson’s documentation).

Ron Lutjens is a pastor in the Presbyterian Church of America in St. Louis. In the web-zine By Faith (Issue 16. August 2007) Lutjens reproduces the prayer “Our Brothers the Animals”:

O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals to whom thou gavest the earth as their home in common with us.

We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to thee in song, has been a groan of travail. May we realize that they live not for us alone but for themselves and for thee, and that they love the sweetness of life.

O God, enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals to whom thou gavest the earth as their home in common with us.

We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth, which should have gone up to thee in song, has been a groan of travail. May we realize that they live not for us alone but for themselves and for thee, and that they love the sweetness of life.

Dr Alexander Roman is a member of the Ukrainian Catholic Church who contributes articles to the website Ukrainian Orthodoxy. In responding to a submitted question in 2010 about ‘are dogs and cats mentioned in the Bible’, Dr Roman includes in his reply the following remarks:

St Basil the Great wrote a prayer in which he asked God to: “…enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all living things, our brothers the animals to whom You gave the earth as their home in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of humans with ruthless cruelty so that the voice of the earth which should have gone up to you in song, has been a groan of travail. May we realize that they live not for us alone but for themselves and for You, and that they love the sweetness of life.”

Dr Roman did not list any books or other published sources in his reply. It is of passing interest though that his version of “Our Brothers the Animals” contains a word-substitution so that “the high dominion of man” has been changed to “the high dominion of humans”.

Antonia Lee Gorman was a doctoral candidate at Drew University. In her unpublished dissertation “The Blood of Goats and Bulls: An Eco-Spiritual Response to the Sacrifice of Creation” (May 2008) she stated (page 169):

And St. Basil (330? CE – 379? CE) , the bishop of Caesarea and founder of monastic institutions, had the following prayer within his liturgy.

The Internet is bulging with blogs and websites that quote the St. Basil prayers. Below are listed just a small sample of sites that unfortunately fail to furnish any primary source evidence that the prayers are genuinely by St. Basil: